ARTICLE ON POLICE RADAR USE
by MPO Donald Ingerski #1446
Recently, I have been seeing a lot of interest by motorcyclists in
installing radar detectors on their respective rides. While this
is legal in a vast majority of states, it should be pointed out
that it is ILLEGAL in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Regardless of their legality, I believe there is a surprising
ignorance of how police radar works and that radar detector
manufacturers capitalize on that ignorance to expand purchases of
their products by the public. For instance, there are dozens of
ads suggesting the necessity of laser radar detectors as "laser" is
touted to be the latest tool in law enforcement speed detection.
What these ads fail to mention is that laser devices are NOT
authorized for use by all law enforcement agencies. For instance,
police in Virginia and the District of Columbia are not authorized
by law to use laser. Therefore, the old standby of conventional
police microwave radar is the base tool of police speed monitoring.
Yet, how much do YOU, the average citizen, know about radar and how
it REALLY works?
I KNOW radar. I earn my living with it. I am a police motorcycle
officer for the Fairfax County (VA) Police Department, located in
northern Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. I have ridden
police motorcycles for 13 years and been an officer for 20 years
with two departments. I have an A.A. and B.A. degree, both in law
enforcement. I am certified by the Virginia Criminal Justice
Service as a general police instructor and by The Institute of
Police Technology and Management, Jacksonville, FL, as a police
motorcycle instructor. I have undergone 120 hours of formal
instruction on the use of both X-Band and K-Band radar use. I have
issued thousands of tickets and yes, a lot of those have been with
using radar! Finally, I am also a member of A.B.A.T.E. (Old
Dominion Chapter), AMA, AIM, and the Wild Pigs Motorcycle Club.
For pleasure riding, I ride a 1991 Harley-Davidson Softail.
There are a lot of articles with a general descriptive view of
radar but most of them are hardly accurate as to how police radar
is used in Virginia. After reading them, a reader would have the
impression that radar is a "rattle-trap" of sorts and that most
people cited are innocent victims. Nothing could be further from
the truth. There are several reasons for this. I'll explain each
one as to why.
Most radar experts are correct when they state that an officer
needs more than a few hours of training. As for my home state
Virginia, the law requires every officer or deputy to undergo at
least eight hours of training. The larger departments go even
further, having their officers undergo the 40 hour course
recommended by the Federal government.
These experts are also correct about the closest car not
necessarily being the one tracked by radar. Some articles
"demonstrate" this using a truck and a smaller and sleeker car such
as a Corvette. This comparison was basically correct but at the
extreme. Such articles fail to mention that a Corvette with it's
sleek lines and fiberglass body parts makes it difficult for radar
to reflect the microwaves back. This example makes the distances
between the truck and the car much greater than would be the case
with most vehicles of conventional make. Officers in Virginia are
trained to recognize that vehicle sizes can make a difference as to
vehicle or target identification.
Police in Virginia are instructed to use radar as a TOOL to AID IN
THE IDENTIFICATION OF SPEEDERS. Similar to a carpenter's hammer,
the tool does not make the cabinet, the carpenter or user does.
Radar merely verifies what the officer sees. The officer is
trained to approximate speeds of vehicles that he observes. I know
many officers who can state the speeds within two miles per hour
three out of four times! When the officer observes an apparent
speeder, the radar will then VERIFY THE OBSERVATION with a speed
read-out. In other words, the officer sees a car that looks to be
going about 40 and the radar shows a "42". The radar verified the
observation and tells the officer the ACTUAL speed was 42. Officers
do not rely SOLELY on a read-out but in conjunction with what they
have OBSERVED.
Radar experts are quite right about radar not distinguishing a
particular vehicle, but the officer can with the aid of the radar.
For instance, you're watching traffic in a 25 mph zone and see two
vehicles approaching. The closest one appears (OBSERVATION,
remember?) to be doing around 30 but the other is closing in (ie.
FASTER). You look at the radar and you see a 32,31,31,32 and then
a 40,40. You look up and see the closing car now abruptly slowing
(Driver sees you) and the radar now is rapidly showing 40,39,35,32,
etc. Now YOU tell me which car was the speeder. The officer
knows, the driver knows, and YOU know. This is called TRACKING
HISTORY and that is how a radar officer distinguishes which vehicle
is doing what speed.
How about those articles or TV news reports regarding interference
readings? They are right, they do exist. What they fail to
mention is if they will override a target vehicle reading. Out of
thousands of radar tickets I have issued, I have NEVER, repeat
NEVER had an interference reading override a target vehicle
reflection. Once I tried to get an interference reading from some
buzzing hi-power lines with three different radars. I was maybe
100' directly under them and not one would give me a reading.
Interference is most always of a constant nature. When the officer
uses radar and gets a reading with no cars then that tips him off
to the interference. I suppose it is possible to have something so
strong as to override a reflection but an officer would recognize
it and go elsewhere. Simply put, interference causing a motorist
to get a ticket is extremely rare.
As for the accuracy of the radar units themselves, the National
Bureau of Standards conducted extensive tests on police radars. Do
you know what they found? That police radars average an accuracy
percentage rate of 99.44%! Just like Ivory soap.
Some pro-radar detectors articles have a few ideas on what to do if
you do get cited. First of all, in Virginia, you DO NOT have a
right to see the speed read-out except in the case of VASCAR
(VASCAR is not radar). Go ahead and ask but don't think you were
wronged if the officer says no. In most instances, particularly
with hand-held radar, the officer does not "lock" the speed in
anyway. Remember the example I gave you about identifying the
vehicle while it was braking (ie.slowing)? Ask to see the make and
serial number? Let's be realistic. Radars cost several thousands
of dollars and the officer is responsible for it. Would YOU let a
stranger look at your Rolex? I doubt it. If you need the info,
the officer will have it in court.
There is an organization called R.A.D.A.R. that defends "your right
to receive and detect radar signals" and how they've defeated 125
detector bans. Well, they didn't do so well in Virginia.
Virginia's ban has been upheld in the Virginia Supreme Court, the
U.S. Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme refused to even hear
the case!
Additionally, many anti-radar articles describe how so few radar
cases will be contested. This indicates to me that radar is
apprehending true violators. I'm not saying that there will not be
ANYONE getting a "bum" radar ticket. I am saying that as a TOOL,
police radar IS accurate and it is the operator who is responsible
for it's use. With the training that officers in Virginia receive,
police radar is very effective at accurately determining who is
speeding and who is not.
Finally, how does radar deal with motorcycles? Very poorly, from
a law enforcement view. The fact is, motorcycles, because of their
small size and reflective areas, are difficult to detect by
conventional radar. Except under ideal conditions, radar will not
track a motorcycle until it is very close. Buy a radar detector?
Sure, but by the time radar is tracking your ride you should have
spotted the officer or trooper ahead of time. If you didn't, you
should ride straight to your nearest motor vehicle administration
and have that eyeglass restriction put on your license! For
motorcycles, its VASCAR and not radar that's going to get you.
There is no pre-warning "defense" against VASCAR. But that's
another subject altogether. Ride safe.